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JARED SPARKS, LL. D. 



OBIT, MARCH 14, 1866. 



.5 
.51 






MEMOIR OF JARED SPARKS, LL. D. 



The name of Jared Sparks is inti- 
mately associated with the historical lit- 
erature of this country, and his public 
career is one of the most distinguished 
in our literary history, presenting many 
characteristics worthy of special notice. 
His fame was not confi aed to America, 
but his writings have gained for him a 
reputation in foreign countries. He was 
one of numerous individuals who have 
risen from humble circumstances to high 
positions. He has exerted a wide and 
beneficent influence ; he has finished a 
good work and gained for himself a bril- 
liant renown. Those who represent the 
scholarship, the literary, historical, colle- 
giate, and Christian interests, (and these 
cover a wide space,) uniting the sympa- 



thies and the utterances of eminent, 
faithful, and true men in our communi- 
ty, have awarded to him those tributes 
which give him one of the highest places 
among us. His life commenced ten days 
only after the establishment of the Fed- 
eral Government. Fortunate and wise in 
his early interest in its history, which 
caused him to devote an important por- 
tion of his life to recording, with an im- ^ 
partial hand, the first crisis through 
which his country passed in the Ameri- 
can Revolution, as illustrated in his lives 
of its principal founders — Washington, 
Franklin, and others ; and happy in hav- 
ing seen it, before he closed his eyes, 
emerge in triumph from its second, and, 
it is to be hoped, its last terrible ordeal, 
he has passed away in peace, in the en- 
joyment of the merited respect and af- 
fection of personal friends, and honored 
by all. 

Mr. Sparks was born in Willington, 
Conn., on the 10th of May, 1789. His 
early life was spent upon a farm, and 



occasionally he was employed in a grist 
and saw mill. He eventually was ap- 
prenticed to a carpenter, where, after 
two years, his employer relinquished 
his legal claim upon his time that he 
might give himself more devotedly to 
study. 

Dr. Ashbel Woodward, of Franklin, 
Conn., author of the life of Gen. Lyon, 
and a native of the same town, says: 
" He was regarded in his boyhood as a 
lad of great promise. He had intense 
thirst for learning, and, while engaged in 
his menial employments, gave all his 
leisure moments to study." Rev. Hub- 
bel Loomis, the clergyman of the town, 
encouraged and aided him in his stud- 
ies, taught him mathematics, of which 
he was particularly fond, and induced 
him to study Latin. In return for his 
good minister's kindness and instruction, 
he shingled his barn, thus turning his 
carpenter's knowledge to account. The 
Rev. Abiel Abbot, then of the neigh- 
boring town of Coventry, Conn., and 



6 



more recently of Peterborough, N. H., 
when visiting Mr. Loomis, one day, no- 
ticed young Sparks in the chimney cor- 
ner, very intently engaged with his 
books. Mr. Loomis said to Mr. (after- 
wards Dr.) Abbot, in another room, be- 
fore he left, " Did you notice the young 
man in the other room with his books ?" 
"Yes," replied Mr. Abbot. "He is a 
very remarkable young man," said Mr. 
Loomis, " has a great thirst for knowl- 
edge, and ought to be helped to obtain 
a liberal education ; I have promised to 
give him two months' instruction, and 
hope to interest the neighboring clergy 
to do as much for him." Mr. Abbot> 
always ready on such an occasion, said: 
" Most certainly I will help him ; I will 
try to do better for him than to give 
him tuition at my own house ; I am ac- 
quainted with the trustees of Exeter 
Academy, in New Hampshire, where 
there is a provision for worthy scholars 
who may be unable to pay their expen- 
ses, and I think I can get him a place 



there," The result was successful. 
Young Si)arks was thus secured a schol- 
arship at the Phillips' Exeter Academy, 
on a charitable foundation, which pro- 
vided not only education, but a home, 
free of cost. Mr. Abbot went over to 
Willington, after his success, and in- 
formed young Sparks, who, as may well 
be understood, was overjoyed at the good 
news. Mr. Abbot asked him how he 
could manage to get to Exeter. Sparks 
said, " If it were not for my trunk, I 
should walk." Mr. Abbot said, «I shall, 
within a few weeks, make a journey to 
Boston and vicinity, with my chaise, and 
if you can get along till that time, I will 
tie your trunk to my axletree and bring 
it to you." That arrangement was made. 
Soon after, when ready to start, young 
Sparks walked first over to see Mr. Ab- 
bot, at Coventry, and traveled from 
thence to Exeter, all the way on foot. 
This was in 1809. He remained for two 
years under the care of Dr. Benjamin 
Abbot, teaching a school one winter in 



8 

Rochester, N. H. Among his fellow-stu- 
dents at Exeter were John Gorham Pal- 
frey, afterwards minister of Brattle 
Street Church, Boston, and now Post- 
master of that city, who was his class- 
mate at Cambridge, and George Ban- 
croft, who was later by two years, both 
of whom have since shared with him 
the highest distinction as laborers^n the 
field of American history. 

The intimacy with each other, which 
was formed by these eminent men when 
boys at Exeter, ripened into the most 
cordial friendship in subsequent life, and 
did not, with the lapse of years, lose its 
freshness and its charm. The dedication, 
by Dr. Palfrey, of one volume of his 
" History of New England" to his friend, 
is a touching memorial of their personal 
and literary relations, and is equally 
honorable to the character of both. 

Mr. Sparks entered Harvard in 1811, 
at the age of twenty-two years, a period 
when many of the graduates of Cam- 
bridge have already commenced their 



9 

professional studies. He at once stood 
high in a class of unusual talent. In 
some branches of study he had scarcely a 
superior, especially in mathematics and 
natural philosophy. In his senior year 
he gained the Bowdoin prize by his me- 
moir on the physical discoveries of Sir 
Isaac Newton. This essay is remembered 
among the traditions of the University 
as a master-piece of analytic exposition, 
philosophical method and lucid and exact 
statement. His diligence in study, his 
attention to collegiate rules and his ad- 
mirable disposition made him the object 
of general confidence and love, alike with 
his classmates and instructors. Young 
Sparks was assisted by President Kirk- 
land, who understood his merits and his 
circumstances, and who was ever after 
his warm friend, to a scholarship on en- 
tering college, the resources of which he 
eked out by district-school keeping, a 
portion of the year, in New England, and 
an engagement in the first two years of 
his undergraduate course at a private 
2 



10 



school at Havre-de-Grace, in Maryland, 
to which he was recommended by Presi- 
dent Dwight, of Yale. While in this 
latter place, in 1813, it was invaded by 
the British troops. He served at that 
time in the militia, and witnessed the 
conflagration of the town before he left. 
It has been said that there were induce- 
ments offered him at this time to finish 
his collegiate course at New Haven. But 
the influence and kindness of Dr. Kirk- 
land drew him back to Cambridge, where 
he graduated in 1815 with high honors. 
He then taught a classical school for a 
short time at Lancaster, Mass., after 
which he studied divinity under Dr. Ware, 
at Cambridge. In 1817, he was appointed 
a tutor in mathematics and natural phi- 
losophy in the College, discharging these 
duties for two years while pursuing his 
theological studies. As one of the as- 
sociates to whom Mr. Tudor assigned the 
North American Review, he became its 
working editor — the numbers of that 
work from May, 1817, to March, 1819, 



11 

inclusive, were edited by him. Thus, he 
had three distinct labors before him, 
that of tutor in two branches, editor of 
the leading Review of the country, and 
student in theology. 

In May, 1819, he was ordained pastor 
of a new Unitarian church at Baltimore, 
Md., which had at that time been re- 
cently established, mostly by natives of 
New England, who had settled in that 
city. One of the most splendid church 
edifices of that day was built for the 
Society. Dr. Channing preached the dis- 
course at the ordination of Mr. Sparks. 
This was a famous discourse, and prob- 
ably caused more remark upon its theo- 
logical views, and more controversy 
grew out of the statement of doctrines 
therein declared, than any other single 
religious discourse in this country ever 
occasioned. It brought Harvard and 
Andover into earnest, but dignified, con- 
troversy, and caused the famous letters 
which passed between Doctors Ware 
and Woods, which were published at 



12 



the time. Mr. Sparks published at this 
time, in Baltimore, his letters on the 
" Comparative Moral Tendency of the 
Unitarian and Trinitarian Doctrines." 
They were acknowledged to be " a model 
of argument, learning, and polemic dex- 
terity." Dr. Miller, of Princeton, N. J., 
was among Mr. Sparks ' antagonists, and 
answered these letters. The controversy 
with Dr. Miller had one remarkable 
effect, if no other — that of bringing the 
two parties nearer to each other in their 
personal relations, and increasing their 
mutual confidence and respect. Many 
years aftej, when Mr. Sparks wanted a 
life of Jonathan Edwards for his " Amer- 
ican Biography," he selected Dr. Miller 
as the writer. The latter accepted the 
proposal, and, it is said, was not a little 
surprised at the catholic spirit of Mr. 
Sparks in publishing the memoir of the 
mighty Calvinist without the alteration 
of a word or syllable. 

Mr. Sparks' position was an isolated 
one in the denomination. He was sur- 



13 



rounded by opposers of all other denom- 
inations. Rev. Dr. William E. Wyatt, 
an Episcopal clergyman of his neigh- 
borhood, preached a sermon leveled at 
his doctrines, which led Mr. Sparks, in 

1820, to publish a volume of Letters on 
the Ministry, Ritual and Doctrines of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 

1821, as a proof of his worth and stand- 
ing, he was elected Chaplain to the 
House of Representatives. The same 
year he commenced a monthly duo- 
decimo periodical entitled The Unitarian 
Miscellany and Christian Monitor. The 
motto of this work was, " Those Creeds 
are best which keep the very words of 
Scripture ; and that Faith is best which 
hath greatest simplicity." — Jeremy Tay- 
lor. Three volumes of this publication 
were printed, edited by Mr. Sparks ; and, 
subsequently, the work was continued 
through five volumes more, edited by 
Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood, Mr. Sparks' 
successor at Baltimore. It is a curious 
fact, that the names of four ministers 



14 



who have occupied the Baltimore pulpit 
were Sparks, Greenwood, Furness and 
Burnap — all able men, and, as their 
names indicate, possessing sufficient fire 
and fuel to burn up many evils about 
them, or to kindle a holy fire upon the 
altar at which they ministered. 

Mr. Sparks also commenced, while in 
Baltimore, editing " A Collection of Es- 
says and Tracts in Theology, from various 
Authors, with Biographical and Critical 
Notices." It was afterwards completed 
at Boston, in 1826, in 12 Nos., making 
six duodecimo volumes. The selections 
were from Wm. Penn, Bishop Hoadley, 
John Hales, Jeremy Taylor, Locke, 
Watts, and a great number of others. 
This plan, though somewhat like Bishop 
"Watson's, was more comprehensive, lib- 
eral, and less formally arranged. Bishop 
Watson, by his order of arrangement, 
attempted to support certain tenets, one 
after another, but Mr. Sparks looked 
more directly to practical Christianity 
and liberal inquiry. In 1823, his health 



15 



becoming impaired by his ministerial 
labors and duties, he resigned his posi- 
tion at Baltimore, after a ministry of 
four years, expressing his earnest desire, 
in his letter of resignation, for the suc- 
cess of the religious views he had 
cherished, and which he believed to be 
most "honorable to God and salutary 
to men." Mr. Sparks traveled a few 
months in the Western States for his 
health. 

In the latter part of the year 1828 he 
returned to Boston, purchased the North 
American Review, and became its sole 
editor from the number for January, 
1824, to April, 1830, making seven years 
and six months in which he was the 
editor and presiding genius of this well- 
known periodical. W. F. Poole, Esq., 
Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, 
who has a complete list of all the writers 
in the North American Review, informs 
us that it contains more than fifty 
articles written by Mr. Sparks. Some 
of these are quite elaborate, and many 



16 



of them of great research, and making, 
by themselves, a very extensive contri- 
bution to the solid literature of our 
country. 

His settlement at Baltimore may be 
considered a successful one in a double 
sense ; it was indeed fortunate, for it was 
undoubtedly the near position to "Wash- 
ington, with his eminent ability and ex- 
cellent character, which brought him 
into an intimate acquaintance with Chief- 
Justice Marshall and Judge Washington, 
thus securing for his use the possession 
of all the Washington papers at Mount 
Vernon. He had previously formed the 
purpose of making a collection of all 
the writings of Washington, for publi- 
cation. He, in 1826, had completed a 
personal examination of the revolution- 
ary papers in the public offices of all the 
thirteen original States and the depart- 
ment at Washington. In 1828, he made 
a voyage to Europe for the purpose of 
transcribing documents in the State ar- 
chives at London and Paris. By the 



17 



aid of Sir James Mackintosh, the Marquis 
of Lansdowne, and Lord Holland, in 
England, and La Fayette and the Marquis 
de Marbois, in France, these archives 
were for the first time opened, for his- 
torical purposes, to his investigation. 

In 1829, he returned with a valuable 
collection of materials to America. 
After nine years of preparation he com- 
menced publishing the work in 1834, 
which was completed, in twelve volumes, 
in 1837 — the first volume being occu- 
pied with a Life of Washington, which 
was also published separately. 

The work was received with great 
favor here and abroad. It was reviewed 
by Mr. Everett in the North American. 
In France, Guizot edited a selection from 
the correspondence, prefixing to it his 
highly-prized Introductory Discourse on 
the Character, Influence and Public Ca- 
reer of Washington. In Germany, Von 
Raumer, the historian, prepared an edi- 
tion at Leipsic. 

During Mr. Sparks' visit to England 
3 



18 



and France, he had also gathered much 
valuable documentary material beside 
what was required in his Life and Writ- 
ings of Washington — especially of the 
Diplomatic Correspondence of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, with which title he, 
by the aid of Congress, published, in 
1829-30, twelve volumes, mostly derived 
from the American State Department, 
omissions being supplied from Mr. 
Sparks' European and other collections. 
This series consisted of letters of Frank- 
lin, Adams, Jay, Lee, Deane and Dana, 
and other agents abroad, as well as the 
French minister's, to Congress, during 
the period of the Revolution. 

In 1830, he edited the American Al- 
manac and Repository of Useful Knowl- 
edge. In 1832, he published the Life of 
Governeur Morris. He also commenced 
in 1834 (which was finished in 1838) the 
first series, in ten volumes, of American 
Biography. The second series of Biog- 
raphy, in fifteen volumes, was published 
from 18-14 to 1848. To these extended 



19 



undertakiDgs another, with almost equal 
interest with the Washington Papers, 
was added in 1840 — the ten volumes of 
Franklin's writings, with notes and his 
life. As a proof of the author's indus- 
try, two hundred and fifty-three of 
Franklin's letters were there printed for 
the first time, and one hundred and 
fifty-four first brought together from 
scattered j)ublications. The work also 
included numerous letters to Franklin, 
from his distinguished foreign corre- 
spondents. Mr. Si)arks also edited from 
the original MSS., which had been in 
his possession, Letters of Eminent Men 
to George Washington. This publica- 
tion appeared, in four volumes, at the 
end of the year 1853. 

" No scholar," says one who knew him 
well, "in this country has presented a 
more praiseworthy example of industry, 
perseverance and faithful endeavor. No 
degree of labor could divert him from 
the execution of his task. With no 
morbid passion for fame, he was content 



20 



to apply his fine powers to the perform- 
ance of duties which gave him no bril- 
liant prominence in the public , eye. 
Amid the glare and rush of American 
life, his career of quiet energy and faith- 
ful working deserves to be held in grate- 
ful and honorable remembrance." 

We have taken but a glance at the 
vast labors of Mr. Sparks. His most 
busy and working period seems to have 
been soon after his return from Europe, 
in 1829. 

Rev. James Freeman Clarke, D. D., 
informs the writer of this article that 
Mr. Sparks lived at that time as a boarder 
at Mrs. Clarke's, in Ashburton place, 
Boston. He was then in the habit of 
working in his room all day on the Life of 
Washington. The walls of two rooms 
were covered with books from floor to ceil- 
ing, and he gave ten or twelve hours' solid 
work every day to his studies. For 
weeks together he would not leave the 
house until the evening, when he would 
go out to call on his friends. This was 



21 



during the two or three years immedi- 
ately preceding his first marriage. 

Mr. Sparks' first wife was Frances 
Anne, daughter of William Allen, Esq., 
of Hyde Park, N. Y., to whom he was 
married October 16, 1832. She died of 
consumption, at Hyde Park, July 12, 
1835, leaving one daughter, Maria Ver- 
plank. This daughter died at Cam- 
bridge, January 3, 1846, aged twelve 
years and four months. Mr. Sparks' 
second wife was Mary Crowningshield, 
daughter of Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee, of 
Salem, Mass., to whom he was married 
May 21, 1839. Their children now liv- 
ing are Florence, William Eliot (now of 
the Freshman Class, Harvard College), 
Elizabeth and Beatrice. Mr. Sparks' own 
death occurred on Wednesday, March 14, 
1866. Rev. R. M. Hodges, of Cambridge, 
his classmate, writes as follows : 

" I had occasion the other day to make 
out the following synopsis of Mr. Sparks 
character : — Habit of mind. — Logical and 
methodical, the result of his mathemat- 



22 

ical studies. Hence, his opinions and the 
method of presenting them were very 
carefully formed and adopted. Hence, 
also, he seldom wavered or varied from 
his preconceived opinions, and, hence, he 
was disposed to be conservative. The 
result of his controversy with Lord 
Mahon and others shows the carefulness 
of his investigations and the stability of 
his decisions. Imagination and fancy 
were not characteristics of his mind. He 
was methodical and indefatigable in 
every work he had immediately in hand. 

In regard to his affections, he was kind 
and lenient, not easy or free in conversa- 
tion, but comijrehensive, and with few 
words illustrating the leading thought 
at the time occupying attention. There 
was not the least rancor or animosity in 
his disposition. As President of the 
College, he set Dr. Kirkland before him 
as his model." 

The pecuniary assistance that he re- 
ceived he never ceased to be grateful for. 
He, in turn, gave material encourage- 



23 



ment where industry and promise, in 
depressed circumstances, called for it. 
And in the days of his prosperity he re- 
turned to his original benefactors, not 
only the amount of money he had re- 
ceived from them, but more than the in- 
terest. President Lord, of Dartmouth, in 
an address to the students of his College, 
commemorated this honorable and grate- 
ful act of Mr. Sparks. He never ceased to 
do large honor to Rev. Abiel Abbot, D.D., 
who aided and encouragedhim in getting 
an education as before stated. 

Mr. Sparks, as President of the Uni- 
versity, was not in favor of a martinet 
discipline, but wished to govern the Col- 
lege on the basis of confidence — treating 
the students as gentlemen and men of 
honor, and expecting them to behave as 
such. But there are always in the Faculty 
some persons, oftener among the young- 
est members, who have no faith in such 
a course and prefer a system of police, 
turning themselves into detective officers 
for that purpose. 



24 



On one occasion, one of the scholars 
in the institution made a noise somewhat 
derisive to one of the tutors as he was 
coming out from recitation. The tutor 
stated the case to the Faculty, and gave 
the names of several who, if not guilty, 
he thought might know who was. These 
young men were summoned before the 
President, who was requested to ask 
them, one by one, if they made the 
noise or knew who made it? President 
Sparks had previously said to the Fac- 
ulty that they could not expect them 
to inform against their fellows — ^the 
temptation to falsehood was too great. 
Dr. Sparks addressed them when they 
came before him in substance as fol- 
lows : 

" I have been requested by the Faculty 
to ask you if you made, or know who 
made, the disturbance at the close of 
your recent recitation. I have stated to 
you their request ; but if you know who 
made the noise, I do not intend to ask 
you to tell." 



25 



They answered one after another, some 
did not know, some said they knew, but 
did not tell. Finally, one was called for- 
ward, who said : 

" I did it myself; I know I ought not 
to have done it ; I am sorry that I did it ; 
I hardly know why I did it ; yes, I should 
say it was because I did not like the 
tutor, as I thought he had not used me 
fairly in some of my recitations." 

He had told the truth, and acknowl- 
edged his fault openly and candidly. 
President Sparks told the Faculty that 
he ought rather to be commended than 
punished, but the tutors outvoted the 
others, and he was suspended. Dr. 
Sparks wrote a note to his father, saying 
that he considered it no dishonor, as 
young men did not often have such an 
opportunity to show themselves so frank 
and noble. 

For the above anecdote I am also in- 
debted to Rev. James Freeman Clarke, 
D.D. 

Mr. Sparks was McLean Professor of 
4 



26 



Ancient and Modern History in Har- 
vard College from 1839 to 1849, and 
from 1849 to 1852 he held the office of 
President of that institution. He was 
engaged, after his resignation, in pre- 
paring a History of the American Revo- 
lution, in which, we believe, he had 
made considerable progress. He in- 
formed the writer of this, some years 
since, that he hardly thought he should 
live to complete it — intimating that he 
was too far advanced in life to finish it 
to his own satisfaction. He never al- 
lowed any thing to go from his hands in 
an unfinished state. 

No one was more delighted in encour- 
aging the young. The trials of his 
young days had proved him, and wher- 
ever he could he bestowed in kind words 
or charitable deeds such favors as he had 
himself received amid the stern experi- 
ences of his youth. 

Dr. Sparks was extremely kind and 
liberal in imparting any special informa- 
tion, if desired by others, and in the loan 



27 



of books, papers and documents to those 
pursuing any particular branch of knowl- 
edge or history which he only might 
have, and which may have cost him great 
labor and expense. He gave his counte- 
nance and encouragement in the origi- 
nal establishment of the HibTORioAL 
Magazine. He selected the name from 
a large number submitted to him, and 
added the remaining words of the title 
as now borne upon the cover. He sub- 
scribed for it in the commencement, and 
his subscription is paid to January, 1867. 
Dr. Sparks was noble in person, digni- 
fied in bearing, graceful, exact and solid 
in his public address and private con- 
versation, and pleasant, engaging and 
cordial in demeanor. He was revered 
and loved by all who knew him. The 
consciousness that you were in a superior 
presence was immediately forgotten by 
the influence of his most affable and 
Christian courtesy, and when you left him, 
you felt that you were, or at least that 
you ought to be, a better person. He in- 



28 



spired you with a love of inflexible vir- 
tue and solid learning. He gave you an 
elevated view of humanity, and caused 
you to think better of its possibilities 
and more of its charities. Mr. Webster 
said in his address at the completion 
of Bunker Hill Monument: "America 
has furnished to the world the character 
of Washington ! And if our American 
institutions have done nothing else, that 
alone would have entitled them to the 
respect of mankind. * * * This 
structure," placing his great dark eyes 
most expressively high up on the monu- 
ment, "by its uprightness, its solidity, 
its durability, is no unfit emblem of his 
character. His public virtues and pub- 
lic principles were as firm as the earth 
on which it stands, his personal motives 
as j)ure as the serene heaven in which 
its summit is lost." 

Dr. Sparks' character, in its founda- 
tion, in the principles of its composition, 
and the simplicity and massiveness of 
its structure, was not unlike that of his 



29 



beloved Washington, and Mr. Webster's 
emblem is a fit one for both. 



LIST OF MR. SPARKS WORKS. 

The Life of John Ledyard, the Amer- 
ican Traveler. 12mo. Cambridge, 1829. 

Inquiry into the Comparative Moral 
Tendency of Trinitarian and Unitarian 
Doctrines. 8vo. Boston, 1823. 

Letters on the Ministry, Ritual and 
Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 2d Edition. 12mo. Boston, 1844. 

A Collection of Essays and Tracts in 
Theology. Nos. I. to XII. April, 1823— 
March, 1826. 6 vols. 12mo. Boston, 
1823-'26. 

An Account of the Manuscript Papers 
of George Washington, which were left 
by him at Mount Vernon ; with a Plan 
for their Publication. 8vo, pp. 24. Bos- 
ton, 1827. 

The Life of Governeur Morris ; with 
Selections from his Correspondence. 
3 vols. 8vo. Boston, 1832. 



30 



Sermon preached in the Hall of the 
House of Representatives, March 3, 1822, 
on the Death of Hon. William Pinkney. 
8vo, pp. 15. Washington, 1822. 

Diplomatic Correspondence of the 
American Revolution. 12 vols. 8vo. 
Boston, 1829-'30. 

The Library of American Biography ; 
conducted by Mr. Sparks. First Series. 
10 vols. 16mo. Boston, 1838-'39. 

The Library of American Biography. 
Second Series. 15 vols. 12mo. Boston, 
1852. 

In the two series of Biography there 
are fifty-two lives written by various 
popular authors, and eight (making 
sixty in all) are from Mr. Sparks' own 
pen. Those written by Mr. Sparks are 
Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, Father 
Marquette, De la Salle, Count Pulaski, 
John Ribault, Charles Lee, and a reprint 
of the Life of Ledyard. 

The American Almanac and Reposi- 
tory of Useful Knowledge for the Year 
1830. This number was edited by Mr. 



31 

Sparks, thus establishing the work, which 
was afterwards continued by others to 
the year 1861. The National Almanac 
of Philadelphia now takes its place. 

The Writings of George Washington ; 
with a Life of the Author. Notes and 
Illustrations. 12 vols. 8vo. Boston, 1839. 

The Works of Benjamin Franklin ; 
with Notes, and a Life of the Author. 
10 vols. 8vo. Boston, 1840. 

Letter to Lord Mahon : being an 
Answer to his Letter addressed to the 
Editor of Washington's Writings. 8vo, 
pp. 48. Boston, 1852. 

Reply to the Strictures of Lord Ma- 
hon and others, on the Mode of Editing 
the Writings of Washington. 8vo, pp. 35. 
Cambridge, 1852. 

Remarks on a " Reprint of the Original 
Letters from Washington to Joseph 
Reed," &c. 8vo, pp. 43. Boston, 1853. 

Illustrations of the Principal Events 
in the Life of Washington. 4to. 1842. 

Life of Washington ; Abridged. 2 vols. 
12mo. 



32 



Correspondence of the American Rev- 
olution : being Letters of Eminent Men 
to George Washington. 4 vols. 8vo. 
Boston, 1853. 

Unitarian Miscellany. Baltimore, 1821- 
1823. 3 vols. 

North American Review. 15 vols. 
In this work he has written over fifty 
articles. 

Several of the above works were 
translated into different languages. There 
were various contributions to other peri- 
odicals and works not here enumerated ; 
and it is quite possible this list does not 
comprehend all his works. Several of 
the above have been republished, and 
some several times. 

Some appreciation of the extent of 

his literary labors may be attained by a 

statement of the fact, that more than six 

hundred thousand copies of his books have 

been printed. 

W. R. D. 






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